385.22 
P83r 


Horace  Sorter.  Railway  Passenger 
Travel,  1825-1880.   (from  Scribner1; 
Magazine,  Sept.  1888)      (1962  rpt.) 


Li    1     bITY  OF 

IL     «OIS  LIBRARY 

AT  URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 


ILLINOIS  HISTORICAL  SURVEY 


182S-188O 


-    -;  •>•   -; ~—    -.., 


385.  aa, 


1825-188O 


FROM    SCRIBNER'S      •      SEPTEMBER    1888 


ISBN:   0-914166-12-3 
7th   Printing,  1975 


10  SOCHA   LANE,   SCOTIA,   NEW  YORK   12302 


RAILWAY   PASSENGER  TRAVEL 


By  Horace  Porter. 


(ROM  the  time 
when  Puck 
i  was  supposed  to 
"1  utter  his  boast 
to  put  a  girdle 
round  about  the 
earth  in  forty  min- 
utes to  the  time 
when  Jules  Verne's  itin- 
erant hero  accomplished 
the  task  in  twice  that 
number  of  days,  the  restless  ingenuity 
and  energy  of  man  have  been  unceas- 
ingly taxed  to  increase  the  speed,  com- 
fort, and  safety  of  passenger  travel.  The 
first  railway  on  which  passengers  were 
carried  was  the  "  Stockton  and  Darling- 
ton," of  England,  the  distance  being  12 
miles.  It  was  opened  September  27, 1825, 
with  a  freight  train,  or,  as  it  is  called  in 
England,  a  "goods"  train,  but  which 
also  carried  a  number  of  excursionists. 
An  engine  which  was  the  result  of  many 
years  of  labor  and  experiment  on  the 
part  of  George  Stephen  son  was  used  on 
this  train.  Stephenson  mounted  it  and 
acted  as  driver  ;  his  bump  of  caution 
was  evidently  largely  developed,  for,  to 
guard  against  accidents  from  the  reck- 
lessness of  the  speed,  he  arranged  to 
have  a  signalman  on  horseback  ride  in 
advance  of  the  engine  to  warn  the  luck- 
less trespasser  of  the  fate  which  awaited 
him  if  he  should  get  in  the  way  of  a 
train  moving  with  such  a  startling  ve- 
locity. The  next  month,  October,  it 
was  decided  that  it  would  be  worth 
while  to  attempt  the  carrying  of  pas- 
sengers, and  a  daily  "coach,"  modelled 
after  the  stage-coach  and  called  the  "  Ex- 
periment," was  put  on,  Monday,  October 
10th,  1825,*isvhich  carried  six  passengers 
inside  and  from  fifteen  to  twenty  outside. 
The  engine  with  this  light  load  made  the 
trip  in  about  two  hours.  The  fare  from 
Stockton  to  Darlington  was  one  shilling, 
and  each  passenger  was  allowed  fourteen 
pounds  of  baggage.  The  limited  amount 
of  baggage  will  appear  to  the  ladies  of 
the  present  day  as  niggardly  in  the  ex- 
treme, but  they  must  recollect  that  the 


band-box  was  then  the  popular  form  of 
portmanteau  for  women,  the  Saratoga 
trunk  had  not  been  invented,  and  the 
muscular  baggage-smasher  of  modern 
times  had  not  yet  set  out  upon  his  career 
of  destruction. 

The  advertisement  which  was  pub- 
lished in  the  newspapers  of  the  day  is 
here  given,  and  is  of  peculiar  interest 
as  announcing  the  first  successful  at- 
tempt to  carry  passengers  by  rail. 

Stockton  <fc  Darlington 

Railway* 

•jr  ,fSS  t  <)<  -OXXL-J  i  ^/ 

The 


CAL.IED  THE 


EXPERIMENT. 

The  Liverpool  and  Manchester  road 
was  opened  in  1829.  The  first  train 
was  hauled  by  an  improved  engine 
called  the  "Rocket,"  which  attained  a 
speed  of  25  miles  an  hour,  and  some 
records  put  it  as  high  as  35  miles. 
This  speed  naturally  attracted  marked 
attention  in  the  mechanical  world,  and 
first  demonstrated  the  superior  advan- 
tages of  railways  for  passenger  travel. 
Only  four  years  before,  so  eminent  a 
writer  upon  railways  as  Wood  Tiad  said  : 
"Nothing  can  do  more  harm  to  the 
adoption  of  railways  than  the  promul- 
gation of  such  nonsense  as  that  we  shall 
see  locomotives  travelling  at  the  rate  of 
12  miles  an  hour." 

America  was  quick  to  adopt  the  rail- 
way system  which  had  had  its  origin  in 
England.  In  1827  a  crude  railway  was 
opened  between  Quincy  and  Boston,  but 
it  was  only  for  the  purpose  of  transport- 
ing granite  for  the  Bunker  Hill  Monu- 
ment. It  was  not  until  August,  1829, 
that  a  locomotive  engine  was  used  upon 
an  American  railroad  suitable  for  carry- 


RAILWAY  PASSENGER    TRAVEL. 


Stockton  and  Darlington   Engine  and  Cars. 


ing  passengers.  This  road  was  con- 
structed by  the  Delaware  and  Hudson 
Canal  Company,  and  the  experiment 
was  made  near  Honesdale,  Pennsylvan- 
ia. The  engine  was  imported  from  Eng- 
land and  called  the  "  Stourbridge  Lion." 

In  May,  1830,  the  first  division  of  the 
Baltimore  and  Ohio  road  was  opened. 
It  extended  from  Baltimore  to  Ellicott's 
Mills,  a  distance  of  15  miles.  There  be- 
ing a  scarcity  of  cars,  the  regular  pas- 
senger business  did  not  begin  till  the 
5th  of  July  following,  and  then  only 
horse -power  was  employed,  which  con- 
tinued to  be  used  tiU  the  road  was  fin- 
ished to  Frederick,  in  1832.  The  term 
Belay  House,  the  name  of  a  well-known 
station,  originated  in  the  fact  that  the 
horses  were  changed  at  that  place. 

The  following  notice,  which  appeared 
in  the  Baltimore  newspapers,  was  the 
first  time-table  for  passenger  railway 
trains  published  in  this  country. 

RAILROAD   NOTICE. 

A  sufficient  number  of  cars  being  now  pro- 
vided for  the  accommodation  of  passengers,  no- 
tice is  hereby  given  that  the  following  arrange- 
ments for  the  arrival  and  departure  of  carriages 
have  been  adopted,  and  will  take  effect  on  and 
after  Monday  morning  next  the  5th  instant 
viz.  ; 

A  brigade  of  cars  will  leave  the  depot  on 
Pratt  St." at  6  and  10  o'clock  A.  M.  and  at  3  to 
4  o'clock  P.  M.,  and  will  leave  the  depot  at  El 


licott's  Mills  at  6  and  8|  o'clock  A.  M.,  and  at 
124  and  6  P.  M. 

Way  passengers  will  provide  themselves  with 
tickets  at  the  office  of  the  Company  in  Balti- 
more, or  at  the  depots  at  Pratt  St.  and  Elli- 
cott's Mills,  or  at  the  Relay  House,  near  Elk 
Ridge  Landing. 

The  evening  way  car  for  Ellicott's  Mills  will 
continue  to  leave  the  depot,  Pratt  St.,  at  6 
o'clock  P.  M.  as  usual. 

N.  B.  Positive  orders  have  been  issued  to  the 
drivers  to  receive  no  passengers  into  any  of  the 
cars  without  tickets. 

P.  S.  Parties  desiring  to  engage  a  car  for 
the  day  can  be  accommodated  after  July  5th. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  word  train 
was  not  used,  but  instead  the  schedule 
spoke  of  a  "  brigade  of  cars." 

The  South  Carolina  Railroad  was  be- 
gun about  the  same  time  as  the  Balti- 
more and  Ohio,  and  ran  from  Charleston 
to  Hamburg,  opposite  Savannah.  When 
the  first  division  had  been  constructed, 
it  was  opened  November  2d,  1830. 

Peter  Cooper,  of  New  York,  had  be- 
fore this  constructed  a  locomotive  and 
made  a  trial  trip  with  it  on  the  Balti- 
more and  Ohio  Railroad,  on  the  28th  of 
August,  1830,  but  not  meeting  the  re- 
quirements of  the  company,  it  was  not 
put  into  service.  This  trip  incidentally 
brought  out  a  demonstration  of  the 
Marylander's  belief  in  the  advantages 
of  horse-flesh  over  all  other  means  of 
locomotion,  and  to  prove  the  superiority 
of  this  favorite  animal,  a  gray  roadster 


RAILWAY  PASSENGER   TRAVEL. 


was  brought  out  and  entered  for  a  con- 
test of  speed  with  the  boasted  steam- 
power,  and  it  is  asserted  that  he  beat 
the  locomotive  in  a  break-neck  race 
which  became  as  famous  at  the  time  as 
the  ride  of  the  renowned  John  Gilpin. 


Mohawk  and  Hudson  Train. 


•Text  is  wrong.  This  is  the  DeWitt  Clinton,  an  American  engine — Editor. 

A  passenger  train  of  the  Mohawk  and 
Hudson  Railroad  which  was  put  on  in  Oc- 
tober, 1831,  between  Albany  and  Schenec- 
tady,  attracted  much  attention.  It  was 
hauled  by  an  English  engine  named  the 
"  John  Bull,"  and  driven  by  an  English 
engineer  named  John  Hampson.  *  This 
is  generally  regarded  as  the  first  fully 
equipped  passenger  train  hauled  by  a 
steam-power  engine  which  ran  in  regu- 
lar service  in  America.  During  1832 
it  carried  an  average  of  387  passengers 
daily.  The  accompanying  engraving  is 
from  a  sketch  made  at  the  time. 

It  was  said 
by  an  advo- 
cate of  me- 
chanical evo- 
lution that 
the  modern 
steam  fire- 
engine  was 
evolved  from 
the  ancient 
leathern  fire- 
bucket ;  it 
might  be 
said  with 
greater  truth 
that  the 

modern  railway  car  has  been  evolved 
from  the  old-fashioned  English  stage- 
coach. 

England  still  retains  the  railway  car- 
riage divided  into  compartments  that 
bear  a  close  resemblance  inside  and  out- 
side to  stage-coach  bodies  with  the  mid- 
dle seat  omitted.  In  fact  the  nomen- 
clature of  the  stage-coach  is  in  large 
measure  still  preserved  in  England. 


The  engineer  is  called  the  driver,  the 
conductor  the  guard,  the  ticket  office  is 
the  booking  office,  the  cars  are  the  car- 
riages, and  a  rustic  traveller  may  still 
be  heard  occasionally  to  object  to  sitting 
with  his  back  to  the  horses.  The  ear- 
lier locomotives,  like  horses, 
were  given  proper  names, 
such  as  Lion,  North  Star, 
Fiery,  and  Rocket ;  the  com- 
partments in  the  round- 
houses for  sheltering  loco- 
motives are  termed  the 
stalls,  and  the  keeper  of  the 
round-house  is  called  the 
hostler.  The  last  two  are 
the  only  items  of  equine 
classification  which  the  American  rail- 
way system  has  permanently  adopted. 

America,  at  an  early  day,  departed 
not  only  from  the  nomenclature  of  the 
turnpike,  but  from  the  stage-coach 
architecture,  and  adopted  a  long  car  in 
one  compartment  and  containing  a  mid- 
dle aisle  which  admitted  of  communica- 
tion throughout  the  train.  The  car  was 
carried  on  two  trucks,  or  bogies,  and  was 
well  adapted  to  the  sharp  curvature 
which  prevailed  upon  our  railways. 

The  first  five  years  of  experience 
showed  marked  progress  in  the  prac- 


English  Railway  Carriage,  Midland  Road.     First  and.  Third  Class  and  Luggage  Compartments. 

tical  operation  of  railway  trains,  but 
even  after  locomotives  had  demonstrat- 
ed their  capabilities  and  each  im- 
proved engine  had  shown  an  encour- 
aging increase  in  velocity,  the  wildest 
flights  of  fancy  never  pictured  the 
speed  attained  in  later  years. 

When  the  roads  forming  the  line  be- 
tween Philadelphia  and  Harrisburg, 
Pennsvlvania,  were  chartered  in  1835, 


RAILWAY  PASSENGER    TRAVEL. 


and  town  meetings  were  held  to  discuss 
their  practicability,  the  Honorable   Si- 
mon Cameron,  while 
making  a  speech  in     L 
advocacy  of  the  meas-  Jf 

ure,  was  so  far  car-  •°^Tnil|l|v-  1"  :  J^i 
ried  away  by  his  en- 
thusiasm as  to  make 
the  rash  prediction 
that  there  were  per- 
sons within  the  sound 
of  his  voice  who 
would  live  to  see  a 
passenger  take  his 
breakfast  in  Harris- 
burg  and  his  supper 
in  Philadelphia  on 
the  same  day.  A 
friend  of  his  on  the 
platform  said  to  him 
after  he  had  finished, 
"That's  all  very  well,  Simon,  to  tell  to 
the  boys,  but  you  and  I  are  no  such  in- 
fernal fools  as  to  believe  it."  They  have 
both  lived  to  travel  the  distance  in  a 
little  over  two  hours. 

The  people  were  far  from  being 
unanimous  in  their  advocacy  of  the 
railway  system,  and  charters  were  not 
obtained  without  severe  struggles. 
The  topic  was  the  universal  subject  of 
discussion  in  all  popular  assemblages. 
Colonel  Blank,  a  well-known  politician 
in  Pennsylvania,  had  been  loud  in  his 
opposition  to  the  new  means  of  trans- 
portation. When  one  of  the  first  trains 
was  running  over  the  Harrisburg  and 


the     on-coming 
steam-breathing 


locomotive,    but     his 
opponent  proved   the 


Bogie  Truck. 

Lancaster  road,  a  famous  Durham  bull 
belonging  to  a  Mr.  Schultz  became 
seized  with  the  enterprising  spirit  of 
Don  Quixote,  put  his  head  down  and 
tail  up,  and  made  a  desperate  charge  at 


One  of  the  Earliest  Passenger  Cars  Built  in  this  Country  ;   used  on  the  Western 
Railroad  of  Massachusetts  (now  the  Boston  &  Albany). 


better  butter  of  the  two  and  the  bull 
was  ignominiously  defeated.  At  a  pub- 
lic banquet  held  soon  after  in  that  part 
of  the  State,  the  toast-master  proposed 
a  toast  to  "  Colonel  Blank  and  Schultz's 
bull — both  opposed  to  railroad  trains." 
The  joke  was  widely  circulated  and  had 
much  to  do  with  completing  the  discom- 
fiture of  the  opposition  in  the  following 
elections. 

The  railroad  was  a  decided  step  in 
advance,  compared  with  the  stage-coach 
and  canal-boat,  but  when  we  picture  the 
surroundings  of  the  traveller  upon  rail- 
ways during  the  first  ten  or  fifteen  years 
of  their  existence,  we  find  his  journey 
was  not  one  to  be  envied. 
He  was  jammed  into  a  nar- 
row seat  with  a  stiff  back, 
the  deck  of  the  car  was  low 
and  flat,  and  ventilation  in 
winter  impossible.     A  stove 
at  each  end  did  little  more 
than  generate  carbonic  ox- 
ide.   The  passenger  roasted 
if  he  sat  at  the  end  of  the 
car,  and  froze  if  he  sat  in 
the  middle.     Tallow  candles 
furnished  a  "  dim  religious 
light,"  but  the  accompany- 
ing odor  did  not  savor  of 
cathedral  incense.     The  dust  was  suffo- 
cating in  dry  weather  ;    there  were  no 
adequate  spark-arresters  on  the  engine, 
or  screens  at  the  windows,  and  the  be- 
grimed passenger    at    the   end   of    his 


RAILWAY  PASSENGER    TRAVEL. 


journey  looked  as  if  he  had  spent  the 
day  in  a  blacksmith  shop.  Recent  ex- 
periments in  obtaining  a  spectrum  analy- 
sis of  the  component  parts  of  a  quantity 
of  dust  collected  in  a  railway  car  show 
that  minute  particles  of  iron  form  a  large 

/^,-         **».*:#..    -.-V  '  -J 

»  .  .. 

&**3L- 


ble  matter  is  not  especially  recom- 
mended by  medical  practitioners,  the 
sanitary  surroundings  of  the  primitive 
railway  car  cannot  be  commended. 
There  were  no  double  tracks,  and  no 
telegraph  to  facilitate  the  safe  despatch- 
ing of  trains.  The  springs  of  the  car 
were  hard,  the  jolting  intolerable,  the 
windows  rattled  like  those  of  the  mod- 
ern- omnibus,  and  conversation  was  a 
luxury  that  could  be  indulged  in  only 
by  those  of  recognized  superiority  in 
lung  power.  The  brakes  were  clumsy 
and  of  little  service.  The  ends  of  the 
flat-bar  rails  were  cut  diagonally,  so 
that  when  laid  down  they  would  lap  and 
form  a  smoother  joint.  Occasionally 
they  became  sprung  ;  the  spikes  would 
not  hold,  and  the  end  of  the  rail  with 
its  sharp  point  rose  high  enough  for  the 
wheel  to  run  under  it,  rip  it  loose,  and 
send  the  pointed  end  through  the  floor 
of  the  car.  This  was  called  a  "snake's 
head,"  and  the  unlucky  being  sitting 
over  it  was  likely  to  be  impaled  against 
the  roof.  So  that  the  traveller  of  that 
day,  in  addition  to  his  other  miseries, 
was  in  momentary  apprehension  of 
being  spitted  like  a  Christmas  turkey. 
Baggage-checks  and  coupon-tickets 
were  unknown.  Long  trips  had  to  be 


Rail  and  Coach  Travel 


proportion,  and  under  the  microscope 
present  the  appearance  of  a  collection 
of  tenpenny  nails.  As  iron  adminis- 
tered to  the  human  system  through  the 
respiratory  organs  in  the  form  of  ten- 
penny  nails  mixed  with  other  undesira- 


made  over  lines  composed  of  a  number 
of  short  independent  railways  ;  and  at 
the  terminus  of  each  the  bedevilled  pas- 
senger had  to  transfer,  purchase  another 
ticket,  personally  pick  out  his  baggage, 
perhaps  on  an  uncovered  platform  in  a 


RAILWAY  PASSENGER    TRAVEL. 


rain-storm,  and  take  his 
chances  of  securing  a  seat 
in  the  train  in  which  he  was 
to  continue  his  weary  jour- 
ney. 

After  the  principal  com- 
panies had  sent  agents  to 
Europe  to  gather  all  the  in- 
formation possible  regarding 
the  progress  made  there, 
they  soon  began  to  aim  at 
perfecting  what  may  justly 
be  called  the  American  Sys- 
tem of  railways.  The  road- 
bed, or  what  in  England  is 
called  the  "  permanent  way," 
was  constructed  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  conform  to  the 
requirements  of  the  new 
country,  and  the  equipment 
was  adapted  to  the  wants  of 
the  people.  In  no  branch 
of  industry  has  the  inventive 
genius  of  the  race  been  more 
skilfully  or  more  successfully 
employed  than  in  the  effort 
to  bring  railway  travel  to  its 
present  state  of  perfection. 


1843.        RAIL-ROAD  ROUTE        1843, 


int  MOHIIIBIBI  ii  mm  Jiu  u.  ita 

— i  ••»  i 

Thooe  who  pay  Otrougt  between  Albany  and  -Buffalo,  -  $  1 0.  in  the  best  cars. 

**•       ,.  ,,     d°-  '*>•_  .     8-  in  accomodatton  caw, 

which  have  lieeirre-arrangeoY  cushioned  and  lighted. 
Those  who  pay  ttrouyAVtween  Albany  &  Rochester,  $8.  in  the  lest  cars. 
«*•  «"•  *>•  6. 50  in  accomodation.  cars. 


GOING  WEST. 


lit  train       aTriin  MM*. 

Lctvt     Albany.          «  A.  M.    1;P.  M.  7;  P.M. 
Put       Sehoieebdr,  1  A.  M.    3  P.  M.  9  P.  M. 

Put        Ulicfc               UP.  M.    9P.M.  4A.M. 

fat        Syrwuse.        S;P.M.   JA.M.  8A.M. 

Pui       Auburn.          7  P.  M.   4  AM  It  A.  M. 

Put        rUcheslir.      2A.M.  10A.M.  4P.M. 

Arrive  «t Buffalo.          7A.M.    3P.M.  »  P.  M. 


Pmu 
Pus 

Pus 


GOING  EAST. 

InTnia      2dTriH 
BuTalh  4  A.  M    9  A.  M 

H.  Chester.      <>;  A. 


Aitblin 
Sjric 
Utica, 


. 

s;p.  M. 


Every  year  has  shown 
progress  in  perfecting  the 
comforts  and  safety  of  the 
railway  car.  In  1849  the 
Hodge  hand-brake  was  intro- 
duced, and  in  1851  the  Ste- 
vens brake.  These  enabled 
the  cars  to  be  controlled  in  a  manner 
which  added  much  to  the  economy  and 
safety  of  handling  the  trains.  In  1869 
George  Westinghouse  patented  his  air- 
brake, by  which  power  from  the  engine 
was  transmitted  by  compressed  air  car- 
ried through  hose  and  acting  upon  the 
brakes  of  each  car  in  the  train.  It  was 
under  the  control  of  the  engineer,  and 
its  action  was  so  prompt  and  its  power 
so  effectual  that  a  train  could  be 
stopped  in  an  incredibly  short  time, 
and  the  brakes  released  in  an  instant. 
In  1871  the  vacuum-brake  was  devised, 
by  means  of  which  the  power  was  ap- 
plied to  the  brakes  by  exhausting  the 
air. 

A  difficulty  under  which  railways  suf- 
fered for  many  years  was  the  method  of 
coupling  cars.  The  ordinary  means  con- 
sisted of  coupling-pins  inserted  into 


Scheneelxfr,  3,'  A.  M 

Arrirt.)  Albany,  5  A.  M 


4  P.  M. 
10  P.  M. 

4  A.M. 

6  A.M. 
10  A.M. 

3  P.M. 


E3JB5MJTS  Ml  BE  CMB  OSB.Y  BY  SKOAL  COHTIACT. 


Passengers  will  procure  tickets  at  the  offices  at  Albany,  Buffalo  or  Rochester 
through,  to  be  entitled  to  scuts  at  the  reduced  rate*. 

Fare  will  be  received  at  each  of  the  above  places  to  any  other  places 
named  on  the  route. 


From  an  Old  Time-table  (furnished  by  the  "ABC  Pathfinder  Railway  Guide.") 


links  attached  to  the  cars.  There  was  a 
great  deal  of  "  slack,"  the  jerking  of  the 
train  in  consequence  was  very  objection- 
able, and  the  distance  between  the  plat- 
forms of  the  cars  made  the  crossing  of 
them  dangerous.  In  collisions  one  plat- 
form was  likely  to  rise  above  that  of  the 
adjoining  car,  and  "telescoping"  was 
not  an  uncommon  occurrence. 

The  means  of  warning  passengers 
against  standing  on  the  platforms  were 
characteristic  of  the  dangers  which 
threatened,  and  were  often  ingenious  in 
the  devices  for  attracting  attention.  On 
a  New  Jersey  road  there  was  painted  on 
the  car  door  a  picture  of  a  new-made 
grave,  with  a  formidable  tombstone,  on 
which  was  an  inscription  announcing  to 
a  terrified  public  that  it  was  "  Sacred  to 
the  memory  of  the  man  who  had  stood 
on  a  platform." 


RAILWAY  PASSENGER    TRAVEL. 


The  Miller  coupler  and  buffer  was 
patented  in  1863,  and  obviated  many  of 
the  discomforts  and  dangers  arising 
from  the  old  methods  of  coupling. 
This  was  followed  by  the  Janney  coupler 
and  a  number  of  other  devices,  the  es- 
sential principle  of  all  being  an  auto- 
matic arrangement  by  which  the  two 
knuckles  of  the  coupler  when  thrust  to- 
gether become  securely  locked,  and  a 
system  of  springs  which  keep  the  buffers 
in  close  contact  and  prevent 
jerking  and  jarring  when  the 
train  is  in  motion. 

The  introduction  of  the 
bell-cord  running  through 
the  train  and  enabling  pas- 
sengers to  communicate 
promptly  by  means  of  it  with 
the  engineer,  and  signal  him 
in  case  of  danger,  constitutes 
another  source  of  safety,  but  is 
still  a  wonder  to  Europeans, 
who  cannot  understand  why  pas- 
sengers do  not  tamper  with  it, 
and  how  they  can  resist  the  temp- 
tation to  give  false  signals  by 
means  of  it.  The  only  answer  is 
that  our  people  are  educated  up 
to  it,  and  being  accustomed  to 
govern  themselves,  they  do  not  re- 
quire any  restraint  to  make  them 
respect  so  useful  a  device.  Aside  from 
the  inconveniences  which  used  to  arise 
occasionally  from  a  rustic  mistaking  the 
bell-cord  for  a  clothes  rack,  and  hanging 
his  overcoat  over  it,  or  from  an  old  gen- 
tleman grabbing  hold  of  it  to  help  him 
climb  into  an  upper  berth  in  a  sleeping- 
car,  it  has  been  singularly  exempt  from 
efforts  to  prostitute  it  to  unintended 
uses. 

The  application  of  the  magnetic  tele- 
graph to  railways  wrought  the  first  great 
revolution  in  despatching  trains,  and  in- 
troduced an  element  of  promptness  and 
safety  in  their  operation  of  which  the 
most  sanguine  of  railroad  advocates  had 
never  dreamed.  The  application  of  elec- 
tricity was  gradually  availed  of  in  many 
ingenious  signal  devices  for  both  day 
and  night  service,  to  direct  the  locomo- 
tive engineer  in  running  his  train,  and 
interpose  precautions  against  accidents. 
Fusees  have  also  been  called  into  re- 
quisition, which  burn  with  a  bright 
flame  a  given  length  of  time  ;  and  when 


a  train  is  behind  time  and  followed  by 
another,  by  igniting  one  of  these  lights, 
and  leaving  it  on  the  track,  the  train 
following  can  tell  by  noting  the  time  of 
burning  about  how  near  it  is  to  the  pre- 
ceding train.  Torpedoes  left  upon  the 
track,  which  explode  when  passed  over 
by  the  wheels  of  a  following  train  and 
warn  it  of  its  proximity  to  a  train  ahead, 
are  also  used. 

In  the  early  days  more  accidents  arose 


Janney  Car  Coupler,  showing  the  process  of  coupling. 

from  switches  than  from  any  other  cause  ; 
but  improvement  in  their  construction 
has  progressed  until  it  would  seem  that 
the  dangers  have  been  effectually  over- 
come. The  split-rail  switch  prevents  a 
train  from  being  thrown  off  the  track 
in  case  the  switch  is  left  open,  and 
the  result  is  that  in  such  an  event  the 
train  is  only  turned  on  to  another 
track.  The  Wharton  switch,  which 
leaves  the  main  line  unbroken,  marks  an- 
other step  in  the  march  of  improvement. 
Amongst  other  devices  is  a  complete 
interlocking  switch  system,  by  means 
of  which  one  man  standing  in  a  switch- 
tower,  overlooking  a  large  yard  with 
numerous  tracks,  over  which  trains 
arrive  and  depart  every  few  minutes, 
can,  by  moving  a  system  of  levers, 
open  any  required  track  and  by  the 
same  motion  block  all  the  others, 
and  prevent  the  possibility  of  col- 
lisions or  other  accidents  resulting 
from  trains  entering  upon  the  wrong 
ti-ack. 


RAILWAY  PASSENGER   TRAl/EL. 


The  steamboats  on  our  large  rivers 
had  been  making  great  progress  in  the 
comforts  afforded  to  passengers.  They 
were  providing 
berths  to  sleep 
in,  serving  meals 
in  spacious  cab- 
ins, and  giving 
musical  enter- 
tainments and 
dancing  parties 
on  board.  The 
railroads  soon 
began  to  learn  a 
lesson  from  them 
in  adding  to  the 
comforts  of  the 
travelling  public. 

The  first  attempt  to  furnish  the  rail- 
way passenger  a  place  to  sleep  while  on 
his  journey  was  made  upon  the  Cumber- 
land Valley  Kailroad  of  Pennsylvania, 
between  Harrisburg  and  Chambersburg. 
In  the  winter  season  the  east-bound 
passengers  arrived  at  Chambersburg 
late  at  night  by  stage-coach,  and  as  they 
were  exhausted  by  a  fatiguing  trip 
over  the  mountains  and  many  wished  to 
continue  their  journey  to  Harrisburg  to 
catch  the  morning  train  for  Philadelphia, 
it  became  very  desirable  to  furnish  sleep- 
ing accommodations  aboard  the  cars. 
The  officers  of  this  road  fitted  up  a  pas- 
senger-car with  a  number  of  berths,  and 
put  it  into  service  as  a  sleeping-car  in  the 
winter  of  1836-37.  It  was  exceedingly 
crude  and  primitive  in  construction.  It 
was  divided  by  transverse  partitions  into 
four  sections,  and  each  contained  three 


Old  Boston  &  Worcester  Railway  Ticket  (about  1837) 


not  prove  attractive  to  travellers.  There 
were  no  bedclothes  furnished,  and  only 
a  coarse  mattress  and  pillow  were  sup- 
plied, and  with 
the  poor  ventila- 
tion and  the  rat- 
tling and  jolting 
of  the  car  there 
was  not  much 
comfort  afford- 
ed, except  a 
means  of  resting 
in  a  position 
which  was  some- 
what more  en- 
durable than  a 
sitting  posture. 

Previous  to 

the  year  1858  a  few  of  the  leading  rail- 
ways had  put  on  sleeping-cars  which 
made  some  pretensions  to  meet  a  grow- 
ing want  of  the  travelling  public,  but 
they  were  still  crude,  uncomfortable, 
and  unsatisfactory  in  their  arrange- 
ments and  appointments. 

In  the  year  1858  George  M.  Pullman 
entered  a  train  of  the  Lake  Shore  Rail- 
road at  Buffalo,  to  make  a  trip  to  Chi- 
cago. It  happened  that  a  new  sleeping- 
car  which  had  been  built  for  the  rail- 
road company  was  attached  to  this  train 
and  was  making  its  first  trip.  Mr.  Pull- 
man stepped  in  to  take  a  look  at  it,  and 
finally  decided  to  test  this  new  form  of 
luxury  by  passing  the  night  in  one  of 
its  berths.  He  was  tossed  about  in  a 
manner  not  very  conducive  to  the  "fold- 
ing of  the  hands  to  sleep,"  and  he  turned 
out  before  daylight  and  took  refuge  up- 
on a  seat  in  the 


RAIL  ROAD   CAP. 


Obverse  and  Reverse  of  a  Ticket  Used  in  1838,  on  the  New  York  &  Harlem  R,R. 


berths — a  lower,  middle,  and  upper 
berth.  This  car  was  used  until  1848 
and  then  abandoned. 

About  this  time  there  were  also  ex- 
periments made  in  fitting  up  cars  with 
berths  something  like  those  in  a  steam- 
boat cabin,  but  these  crude  attempts  did 


end  of  the  car. 
He  now  began 
to  ponder  upon 
the  subject,  and 
before  the  jour- 
ney ended  he 
had  conceived 
the  notion  that, 
in  a  country  of 
magnificent  d  i  s  - 

tances  like  this,  a  great  boon  could  be 
offered  to  travellers  by  the  construc- 
tion of  cars  easily  convertible  into  com- 
fortable and  convenient  day  or  night 
coaches,  and  supplied  with  such  appoint- 
ments as  would  give  the  occupants  prac- 
tically the  same  comforts  as  were  afforded 


RAILWAY  PASSENGER   TRAVEL. 


The  Miller  coupler  and  buffer  was 
patented  in  1863,  and  obviated  many  of 
the  discomforts  and  dangers  arising 
from  the  old  methods  of  coupling. 
This  was  followed  by  the  Janney  coupler 
and  a  number  of  other  devices,  the  es- 
sential principle  of  all  being  an  auto- 
matic arrangement  by  which  the  two 
knuckles  of  the  coupler  when  thrust  to- 
gether become  securely  locked,  and  a 
system  of  springs  which  keep  the  buffers 
in  close  contact  and  prevent 
jerking  and  jarring  when  the 
train  is  in  motion. 

The  introduction  of  the 
bell-cord  running  through 
the  train  and  enabling  pas- 
sengers to  communicate 
promptly  by  means  of  it  with 
the  engineer,  and  signal  him 
in  case  of  danger,  constitutes 
another  source  of  safety,  but  is 
still  a  wonder  to  Europeans, 
who  cannot  understand  why  pas- 
sengers do  not  tamper  with  it, 
and  how  they  can  resist  the  temp- 
tation to  give  false  signals  by 
means  of  it.  The  only  answer  is 
that  our  people  are  educated  up 
to  it,  and  being  accustomed  to 
govern  themselves,  they  do  not  re- 
quire any  restraint  to  make  them 
respect  so  useful  a  device.  Aside  from 
the  inconveniences  which  used  to  arise 
occasionally  from  a  rustic  mistaking  the 
bell-cord  for  a  clothes  rack,  and  hanging 
his  overcoat  over  it,  or  from  an  old  gen- 
tleman grabbing  hold  of  it  to  help  him 
climb  into  an  upper  berth  in  a  sleeping- 
car,  it  has  been  singularly  exempt  from 
efforts  to  prostitute  it  to  unintended 
uses. 

The  application  of  the  magnetic  tele- 
graph to  railways  wrought  the  first  great 
revolution  in  despatching  trains,  and  in- 
troduced an  element  of  promptness  and 
safety  in  their  operation  of  which  the 
most  sanguine  of  railroad  advocates  had 
never  dreamed.  The  application  of  elec- 
tricity was  gradually  availed  of  in  many 
ingenious  signal  devices  for  both  day 
and  night  service,  to  direct  the  locomo- 
tive engineer  in  running  his  train,  and 
interpose  precautions  against  accidents. 
Fusees  have  also  been  called  into  re- 
quisition, which  burn  with  a  bright 
flame  a  given  length  of  time  ;  and  when 


a  train  is  behind  time  and  followed  by 
another,  by  igniting  one  of  these  lights, 
and  leaving  it  on  the  track,  the  train 
following  can  tell  by  noting  the  time  of 
burning  about  how  near  it  is  to  the  pre- 
ceding train.  Torpedoes  left  upon  the 
track,  which  explode  when  passed  over 
by  the  wheels  of  a  following  train  and 
warn  it  of  its  proximity  to  a  train  ahead, 
are  also  used. 

In  the  early  days  more  accidents  arose 


Janney  Car  Coupler,  showing  the  process  of  coupling. 

from  switches  than  from  any  other  cause ; 
but  improvement  in  their  construction 
has  progressed  until  it  would  seem  that 
the  dangers  have  been  effectually  over- 
come. The  split-rail  switch  prevents  a 
train  from  being  thrown  off  the  track 
in  case  the  switch  is  left  open,  and 
the  result  is  that  in  such  an  event  the 
train  is  only  turned  on  to  another 
track.  The  Wharton  switch,  which 
leaves  the  main  line  unbroken,  marks  an- 
other step  in  the  march  of  improvement. 
Amongst  other  devices  is  a  complete 
interlocking  switch  system,  by  means 
of  which  one  man  standing  in  a  switch- 
tower,  overlooking  a  large  yard  with 
numerous  tracks,  over  which  trains 
arrive  and  depart  every  few  minutes, 
can,  by  moving  a  system  of  levers, 
open  any  required  track  and  by  the 
same  motion  block  all  the  others, 
and  prevent  the  possibility  of  col- 
lisions or  other  accidents  resulting 
from  trains  entering  upon  the  wrong 
track. 


RAILWAY  PASSENGER   TRAVEL. 


The  steamboats  on  our  large  rivers 
had  been  making  great  progress  in  the 
comforts  afforded  to  passengers.  They 
were  providing 
berths  to  sleep 
in,  serving  meals 
in  spacious  cab- 
ins, and  giving 
musical  enter- 
tainments and 
dancing  parties 
on  board.  The 
railroads  soon 
began  to  learn  a 
lesson  from  them 
in  adding  to  the 
comforts  of  the 
travelling  public. 

The  first  attempt  to  furnish  the  rail- 
way passenger  a  place  to  sleep  while  on 
his  journey  was  made  upon  the  Cumber- 
land Valley  Railroad  of  Pennsylvania, 
between  Harrisburg  and  Chambersburg. 
In  the  winter  season  the  east-bound 
passengers  arrived  at  Chambersburg 
late  at  night  by  stage-coach,  and  as  they 
were  exhausted  by  a  fatiguing  trip 
over  the  mountains  and  many  wished  to 
continue  their  journey  to  Harrisburg  to 
catch  the  morning  train  for  Philadelphia, 
it  became  very  desirable  to  furnish  sleep- 
ing accommodations  aboard  the  cars. 
The  officers  of  this  road  fitted  up  a  pas- 
senger-car with  a  number  of  berths,  and 
put  it  into  service  as  a  sleeping-car  in  the 
winter  of  1836-37.  It  was  exceedingly 
crude  and  primitive  in  construction.  It 
was  divided  by  transverse  partitions  into 
four  sections,  and  each  contained  three 


Old  Boston  &  Worcester  Railway  Ticket  (about  1837) 


not  prove  attractive  to  travellers.  There 
were  no  bedclothes  furnished,  and  only 
a  coarse  mattress  and  pillow  were  sup- 
plied, and  with 
the  poor  ventila- 
tion and  the  rat- 
tling and  jolting 
of  the  car  there 
was  not  much 
comfort  afford- 
ed, except  a 
means  of  resting 
in  a  position 
which  was  some- 
what more  en- 
durable than  a 
sitting  posture. 

Previous  to 

the  year  1858  a  few  of  the  leading  rail- 
ways had  put  on  sleeping-cars  which 
made  some  pretensions  to  meet  a  grow- 
ing want  of  the  travelling  public,  but 
they  were  still  crude,  uncomfortable, 
and  unsatisfactory  in  their  arrange- 
ments and  appointments. 

In  the  year  1858  George  M.  Pullman 
entered  a  train  of  the  Lake  Shore  Rail- 
road at  Buffalo,  to  make  a  trip  to  Chi- 
cago. It  happened  that  a  new  sleeping- 
car  which  had  been  built  for  the  rail- 
road company  was  attached  to  this  train 
and  was  making  its  first  trip.  Mr.  Pull- 
man stepped  in  to  take  a  look  at  it,  and 
finally  decided  to  test  this  new  form  of 
luxury  by  passing  the  night  in  one  of 
its  berths.  He  was  tossed  about  in  a 
manner  not  very  conducive  to  the  "fold- 
ing of  the  hands  to  sleep,"  and  he  turned 
out  before  daylight  and  took  refuge  up- 
on a  seat  in  the 


RAIL  ROAD   CAR. 


Obverse  and  Reverse  of  a  Ticket  Used  in  1838,  on  the  New  York  &  Harlem  R.R. 


berths — a  lower,  middle,  and  upper 
berth.  This  car  was  used  until  1848 
and  then  abandoned. 

About  this  time  there  were  also  ex- 
periments made  in  fitting  up  cars  with 
berths  something  like  those  in  a  steam- 
boat cabin,  but  these  crude  attempts  did 


end  of  the  car. 
He  now  began 
to  ponder  upon 
the  subject,  and 
before  the  jour- 
ney ended  he 
had  conceived 
the  notion  that, 
in  a  country  of 
magnificent  dis- 
tances like  this,  a  great  boon  could  be 
offered  to  travellers  by  the  construc- 
tion of  cars  easily  convertible  into  com- 
fortable and  convenient  day  or  night 
coaches,  and  supplied  with  »uch  appoint- 
ments as  would  give  the  occupants  prac- 
tically the  same  comforts  as  were  afforded 


RAILWAY  PASSENGER    TRAVEL. 


by  the  steamboats.  He  began  experi- 
ments in  this  direction  soon  after  his  ar- 
rival in  Chicago,  and  in  1859  altered 
some  day-cars  on  the  Chicago  &  Alton 
Railroad  and  converted  them  into  sleep- 
ing-cars, which  were  a  marked  step  in 
advance  of  similar  cars  previously  con- 
structed. They  were  successful  in  meet- 
ing the  wants  of  passengers  at  that  time, 
but  Mr.  Pullman  did  not  consider  them 
in  any  other  light  than  experiments. 
One  night,  after  they  had  made  a  few  trips 
on  the  line  between  Chicago  and  St. 
Louis,  a  tall,  angular-looking  man  entered 
one  of  the  cars  while  Mr.  Pullman  was 
aboard,  and  after  asking  a  great  many  in- 
telligent questions  about  the  inventions, 
finally  said  he  thought  he  would  try 
what  the  thing  was  like  and  stowed  him- 
self away  in  an  upper  berth.  This  proved 
to  be  Abraham  Lincoln. 

In  1864  Mr.  Pullman  perfected  his 
plans  for  a  car  which  was  to  be  a  marked 
and  radical  departure  from  any  one  ever 
before  attempted,  and  that  year  invested 
his  capital  in  the  construction  of  what 
may  be  called  the  father  of  the  Pullman 
cars.  He  built  it  in  a  shed  in  the  yard 
of  the  Chicago  &  Alton  Railroad  at  a 
coat  of  $18,000,  named  it  the  "Pio- 
neer," and  designated  it  by  the  letter 
"A,"  It  did  not  then  occur  to  anyone  that 
there  would  ever  be  enough  sleeping 
cars  introduced  to  exhaust  the  whole 
twenty-six  letters  of  the  alphabet.  The 
sum  expended  upon  it  was  naturally 
looked  upon  as  fabulous  at  a  time  when 
such  sleeping-cars  as  were  used  could 
be  built  for  about  $4,500.  The  con- 
structor of  the  "  Pioneer  "  aimed  to  pro- 
duce a  car  which  would  prove  acceptable 
in  every  respect  to  the  travelling  public. 
It  had  improved  trucks  and  a  raised 
deck,  and  was  built  a  foot  wider  and 
two  and  a  half  feet  higher  than  any  car 
then  in  service.  He  deemed  this  neces- 
sary for  the  purpose  of  introducing  a 
hinged  upper  berth,  which,  when  fastened 
up,  formed  a  recess  behind  it  for  stowing 
the  necessary  bedding  in  daytime.  Be- 
fore that  the  mattresses  had  been  piled 
in  one  end  of  the  car,  and  had  to  be 
dragged  through  the  aisle  when  wanted. 
It  was  known  to  him  that  the  dimensions 
of  the  bridges  and  station  platforms 
would  not  admit  of  its  passing  over  the 
line,  but  he  was  singularly  confident  in 


the  belief  that  an  attractive  car,  con- 
structed upon  correct  principles,  would 
find  its  way  into  service  against  all  obsta- 
cles. It  so  happened  that  soon  after  the 
car  was  finished,  in  the  spring  of  1865, 
the  body  of  President  Lincoln  arrived  at 
Chicago,  and  the  "Pioneer  "  was  wanted 
for  the  funeral  train  which  was  to  take 
it  to  Springfield.  To  enable  the  car  to 
pass  over  the  road,  the  station  plat- 
forms and  other  obstructions  were  re- 
duced in  size,  and  thereafter  the  line  was 
in  a  condition  to  put  the  car  into  ser- 
vice. A  few  months  afterward  General 
Grant  was  making  a  trip  west  to  visit 
his  home  in  Galena,  HI.,  and  as  the  rail- 
way companies  were  anxious  to  take  him 
from  Detroit  to  his  destination  in  the  car 
which  had  now  become  quite  celebrated, 
the  station  platforms  along  the  line  were 
widened  for  the  purpose,  and  thus  an- 
other route  was  opened  to  its  passage. 

The  car  was  now  put  into  regular  ser- 
vice on  the  Alton  road.  Its  popularity 
fully  realized  the  anticipations  of  its 
owner,  and  its  size  became  the  standard 
for  the  future  Pullman  cars  as  to  height 
and  width,  though  they  have  since  been 
increased  in  length. 

The  railroad  company  entered  into  an 
agreement  to  have  this  car,  and  a  num- 
ber of  others  which  were  immediately 
built,  operated  upon  its  lines.  They 
were  marvels  of  beauty,  and  their  con- 
struction embraced  patents  of  such  in- 
genuity and  originality  that  they  at- 
tracted marked  attention  in  the  railroad 
world  and  created  a  new  departure  in  the 
method  of  travel. 

In  1867  Mr.  Pullman  formed  the  Pull- 
man Car  Company  and  devoted  it  to 
carrying  out  an  idea  which  he  had  con- 
ceived, of  organizing  a  system  by  which 
passengers  could  be  carried  in  luxurious 
cars  of  uniform  pattern,  adequate  to  the 
wants  of  both  night  and  day  travel, 
which  would  run  through  without  change 
between  far  distant  points  and  over  a 
number  of  distinct  lines  of  railway,  in 
charge  of  responsible  through  agents,  to 
whom  ladies,  children,  and  invalids  could 
be  safely  intrusted.  This  system  was 
especially  adapted  to  a  country  of  such 
geographical  extent  as  America.  It  sup- 
plied an  important  want,  and  the  travel- 
ling public  and  the  railways  were  prompt 
to  avail  themselves  of  its  advantages. 


RAILWAY  PASSENGER    TRAVEL. 


Parlor  or  drawing-room  cars  were 
next  introduced  for  day  runs,  which 
added  greatly  to  the  luxury  of  travel, 
enabling  passengers  to  secure  seats  in 


ized  in  the  State  of  New  York,  and  was 
early  in  the  field  in  furnishing  this  class 
of  vehicles.  It  has  supplied  all  the  cars 
of  this  kind  used  upon  the  Vanderbilt 


The  "  Pioneer."     First  Pullman   Sleeping-car. 


advance,  and  enjoy  many  comforts  which 
were  not  found  in  ordinary  cars.  Sleep- 
ing and  parlor  cars  were  soon  recog- 
nized as  an  essential  part  of  a  railway's 
equipment  and  became  known  as  "pal- 


ace cars. 


The  Wagner  Car  Company  was  organ- 


system  of  railways  and  a  number  of 
its  connecting  roads.  Several  smaller 
palace-car  companies  have  also  engaged 
in  the  business  at  different  times.  A  few 
roads  have  operated  their  own  cars  of 
this  class,  but  the  business  is  generally 
regarded  as  a  specialty,  and  the  railway 
companies  recognize  the  advantages  and 
conveniences  resulting  from  the  ability 
of  a  large  car  company  to  meet  the  ir- 
regularities of  travel  which  require  a 
large  equipment  at  one  season  and  a 
small  one  at  another,  to  furnish  an  addi- 
tional supply  of  cars  for  a  sudden  de- 
mand, and  to  perform  satisfactorily  the 
business  of  operating  through  cars  in 
lines  composed  of  many  different  rail- 
ways. 

Next  came  a  demand  for  cars  in  which 
meals  could  be  served.  Why,  it  was 
said,  should  a  train  stop  at  a  station  for 
meals  any  more  than  a  steamboat  should 
tie  up  to  a  wharf  for  the  same  purpose  ? 
The  Pullman  Company  now  introduced 
the  hotel  car,  which  was  practically  a 
sleeping-car  with  a  kitchen  and  pantries 
in  one  end  and  portable  tables  which 
could  be  placed  between  the  seats  of 
each  section  and  upon  which  meals  could 
be  conveniently  served.  The  first  hotel 
car  was  named  the  "  President,"  and  was 
put  into  service  on  the  Great  Western 
Railway  of  Canada,  in  1867,  and  soon 
after  several  popular  lines  were  equipped 
with  this  new  addition  to  the  luxuries 
of  travel. 


RAILWAY  PASSENGER    TRAVEL. 


After  this  came  the  dining-car,  which 
was  still  another  step  beyond  the  hotel 
car.  It  was  a  complete  restaurant,  having 
a  large  kitchen  and  pantries  in  one  end, 


improvements  in  rolling-stock  had  obvi 
ated  the  jerking,  jolting,  and  oscillation 
of  the  cars.  The  road-beds  had  been 
properly  ditched,  drained,  and  ballasted 


Pullman   Parlor  Car. 


with  the  main  body  of  the  car  fitted  up 
as  a  commodious  dining-room,  in  which 
all  the  passengers  in  the  train  could 
enter  and  take  their  meals  comfortably. 
The  first  dining-car  was  named  the 
"  Delmonico,"  and  began  running  on  the 
Chicago  &  Alton  Railroad  in  the  year 
1868. 

The  comforts  and  conveniences  of 
travel  by  rail  on  the  main  lines  now 
seemed  to  have  reached  their  culmina- 
tion in  America.  The  heavy  T  rails  had 
replaced  the  various  forms  previously 
used  ;  the  improved  fastenings,  the  re- 
ductions in  curvature,  and  the  greater 
care  exercised  in  construction  had  made 
the  trip  delightfully  smooth,  while  the 


with  broken  stone  or  gravel,  the  dust 
overcome,  the  sparks  arrested,  and  clean- 
liness, that  attribute  which  stands  next 
to  godliness,  had  at  last  been  made  pos- 
sible, even  on  a  railway  train. 

The  heating  of  cars  was  not  success- 
fully accomplished  till  a  method  was  de- 
vised for  circulating  hot  water  through 
pipes  running  near  the  floor.  The  suf- 
fering from  that  bane  of  the  traveller — 
cold  feet — was  then  obviated,  and  many 
a  doctor's  bill  saved.  The  loss  of  human 
life  from  the  destruction  of  trains  by 
fires  originating  from  stoves  aroused 
such  a  feeling  throughout  the  country 
that  the  legislatures  of  many  States  have 
passed  laws,  within  the  last  two  years, 


RAILWAY  PASSENGER    TRAVEL. 


prohibiting  the  use  of  stoves,  and  the 
railway  managers  have  been  devising 
plans  for  heating  the  trains  with  steam 
furnished  from  the  boiler  of  the  loco- 
motive. The  inventive  genius  of  the 
people  was  at  once  brought  into  requisi- 
tion, and  several  ingenious  devices  are 
now  in  use  which  successfully  accom- 
plish the  purpose  in  solid  trains  with  the 
locomotive  attached,  but  the  problem  of 
heating  a  detached  car  without  some 
form  of  furnace  connected  with  it  is 
still  unsolved. 

But  notwithstanding  the  high  stand- 
ard of  excellence  which  had  been 
reached  in  the  construction  and  opera- 
tion of  passenger  trains,  there  was  one 
want  not  yet  supplied,  the  importance 
of  which  did  not  become  fully  recognized 
and  demanded  until  dining-cars  were 


take — the  crossing  of  platforms  while 
the  train  is  in  motion — now  became  nec- 
essary, and  was  invited  by  the  railway 
companies. 

It  was  soon  seen  that  a  safe  covered  pas- 
sageway between  the  cars  must  be  provid- 
ed, particularly  for  limited  express  trains. 
Crude  attempts  had  been  made  in  this 
direction  at  different  times.  As  early  as 
the  years  1852  and  1855,  patents  were 
taken  out  for  devices  which  provided  for 
diaphragms  of  canvas  to  connect  ad- 
joining cars  and  form  a  passageway  be- 
tween them.  These  were  applied  to  cars 
on  the  Naugatuck  Railroad,  in  Connecti- 
cut, in  1857,  but  they  were  used  mainly 
for  purposes  of  ventilation,  to  provide 
for  taking  in  air  at  the  head  of  the  train, 
so  as  to  permit  the  car  windows  to  be 
kept  shut,  to  avoid  the  dust  that  entered 


Wagner   Pailor  Car. 


introduced,  and  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren had  to  pass  across  the  platforms  of 
several  cars  in  order  to  reach  the  one  in 
which  the  meals  were  served.  An  act 
which  passengers  had  always  been  cau- 
tioned against,  and  forbidden  to  under- 


through  them  when  they  were  open. 
These  appliances  were  very  imperfect, 
did  not  seem  to  be  of  any  practical  advan- 
tage, even  for  the  limited  uses  for  which 
they  were  intended,  and  they  were  aban- 
doned after  a  trial  of  about  four  years. 


RAILWAY  PASSENGER.    TRAVEL. 


In  the  year 
1886  Mr.  Pull- 
man went  prac- 
tically to  work 
to  devise  a  per- 
fect system  for 
constructing 
continuous 
trains,  and  at 
the  same  time 
to  provide  for 
sufficient  flexi- 
bility in  the  con- 
necting  pas- 
sageways to  al- 
low for  the  mo- 
tion consequent 
upon  the  round- 
ing  of  curves. 
His  efforts  re- 
sulted in  what 
is  now  known 
as  the  "vesti- 
buled  "  train. 

This  invention,  which  was  patented 
in  1887,  succeeded  not  only  in  supplying 
the  means  of  constructing  a  perfectly  en- 
closed vestibule  of  handsome  architect- 
ural appearance  between  the  cars,  but 
it  accomplished  what  is  even  still  more 
important,  the  introduction  of  a  safety 
appliance  more  valuable  than  any  yet 
devised  for  the  protection  of  human  life 


Immigrant  Sleeping-car.     (Canadian  Pacific  R.  R.) 


ng-car.     (Chicago,  Burlington,  &  Quincy  R    R.) 


in  case  of  collisions.  The  elastic  dia- 
phragms which  are  attached  to  the  ends 
of  the  cars  have  steel  frames,  the  faces  or 
bearing  surfaces  of  which  are  pressed 
firmly  against  each  other  by  powerful 
spiral  springs,  which  create  a  friction 
upon  the  faces  of  the  frames,  hold  them 
firmly  in  position,  prevent  the  oscillation 
of  the  cars,  and  furnish  a  buffer  extend- 
ing from  the 
platform  to  the 
roof  which  pre- 
cludes the  pos- 
sibility of  one 
platform  "rid- 
ing" the  other 
and  producing 
telescoping  in 
case  of  collision. 
The  first  of  the 
vestibuled  trains 
went  into  ser- 
vice on  the  Penn- 
sylvania Rail- 
road  in  June, 
1886,  and  they 
are  rapidly  be- 
ing adopted  by 
railway  compa- 
nies. The  ves- 
tibuled limited 
trains  contain 
several  sleeping- 


In  a  Baggage   Room. 


RAILWAY  PASSENGER    TRAVEL. 


cars,  a  dining-car, 
and  a  car  fitted  up 
with  a  smoking  sa- 
loon, a  library  with 
books,  desks  and 
writing  materials,  a 
bath-room  and  a  bar- 
ber shop.  With  a 
free  circulation  of  air 
throughout  the  train, 
the  cars  opening  into 
each  other,  the  elec- 
tric light,  the  many 
other  increased  com- 
forts and  conveni- 
ences introduced,  the 
steam-heating  appa- 
ratus avoiding  the 
necessity  of  using 
fires,  the  fast  speed, 
and  absence  of  stops 
at  meal-stations, 
this  train  is  the 
acme  of  safe  and  lux- 
urious travel.  An 
ordinary  passenger 
travels  in  as  princely 
a  style  in  these  cars 
as  any  crowned  head 
in  Europe  in  a  royal 
special  train. 

The  speed  of  pas- 
senger trains  has 
shown  steady  im- 
provement from  year 
to  year.  In  the 
month  of  June  in 
our  Centennial  year, 
1876,  a  train  ran  from 
New  York  to  San 
Francisco,  a  distance 
of  3,317  miles,  in  83 
hours  and  27  min- 
utes actual  time,  thus 
averaging  about  40 
miles  an  hour,  but 
during  the  trip  it 
crossed  four  moun- 
tain summits,  one  of 
them  over  8,000  feet 
high.  This  train  ran 
from  Jersey  City  to 
Pittsburg  over  the 
Pennsylvania  Rail- 
road, a  distance  of 
444  miles,  without 


RAILWAY  PASSENGER   TRAVEL. 


making  a  stop.  In  1882  loco- 
mc'.'^es  were  introduced  which 
madi  a  speed  of  70  miles  per  hour. 

In  July,  1885,  an  engine  with  a 
train  of  three  cars  made  a  trip 
;ver  the  West  Shore  road  which 
is  the  most  extraordinary  one  on 
record.  It  started  from  East 
Buffalo,  New  York,  at  10.04  A.M., 
and  reached  Weehawken,  New 
Jersey,  at  7.27  P.M.  Deducting 
the  time  consumed  in  stops,  the 
actual  running  time  was  7  hours 
and  23  minutes,  or  an  average 
of  56  miles  per  hour.  Between 
Churchville  and  Genesee  Junc- 
tion this  train  attained  the  un- 
paralleled speed  of  87  miles  per 
hour,  and  at  several  other  parts 
of  the  line  a  speed  of  from  70  to 
80  miles  an  hour.  The  superior 
physical  characteristics  of  this 
road  were  particularly  favorable 
for  the  attainment  of  the  speed 
r  -entioned. 

The  trains  referred  to  were  special  or 
€  xperimental  trains,  and  while  American 

ilways  have  she*"  ^  their  ability  to  re- 
c.»rd  the  highest  »peed  yet  known,  they 
do  not  run  their  trains  in  regular  ser- 
Hre  as  fast  as  those  on  the  English  rail- 
v»uys.  The  meteor-like  names  given  to 
our  fast  trains  are  somewhat  mislead- 
ii  g.  When  one  reads  of  such  trains  as 
the  "  Lightning,"  the  "  Cannon-ball,"  the 
"Thunderbolt,"  and  the  "G— whiz-z," 
the  suggestiveness  of  the  titles  is  enough 
to  make  one's  head  swim,  but,  after  all, 
they  are  not  as  significant  of  speed  as  the 
British  "  Flying  Scotchman,"  and  the 
"  Wild  Irishman  ;*•'  for  the  former  do  not 
attain  an  average  rate  of  40  miles  an 
hour,  while  the  latter  exceed  45  miles. 

A  few  American  trains,  however,  those 
between  Jersey  City  and  Philadelphia, 
for  instance,  make  an  average  speed  of 
over  50  miles. 

The  transportation  of  immigrants  has 
recently  received  increased  facilities  for 
its  accommodation  upon  the  principal 
through  lines.  Until  late  years  econom- 
ically constructed  day-cars  were  alone 
used,  but  in  these  the  immigrants  suf- 
fered great  discomfort  in  long  journeys. 
An  immigrant  sleeper  is  now  used,  which 
if  constructed  with  sections  on  each 


side  of  the  aisle,  each  section  containing 
two  double  berths.  The  berths  are  made 
with  slats  of  hard  wood  running  longi- 
tudinally ;  there  is  no  upholstery  in  the 
car,  and  no  bedding  supplied,  and  after 
the  car  is  vacated  the  hose  can  be  turned 
in  upon  it,  and  all  the  woodwork  thor- 
oughly cleansed.  The  immigrants  usual- 
ly carry  with  them  enough  blankets  and 
wraps  to  make  them  tolerably  comfort- 
able in  their  berths  ;  a  cooking  stove  is 
provided  in  one  end  of  the  car,  on  which 
the  occupants  can  cook  their  food,  and 
even  the  long  transcontinental  journeys 
of  the  immigrants  are  now  made  without 
hardship. 

The  manufacture  of  railway  passenger 
cars  is  a  large  item  of  industry  in  the 
country.  The  tendency  had  been  for 
man}'  years  to  confine  the  building  of 
ordinary  passenger  coaches  to  the  shops 
owned  by  the  railway  companies,  and 
they  made  extensive  provision  for  such 
work  ;  but  recently  they  have  given  large 
orders  for  that  class  of  equipment  to  out- 
side manufacturers.  This  has  resulted 
partly  from  the  large  demand  for  cars, 
and  partly  on  account  of  the  excellence 
of  the  work  supplied  by  some  of  the 
manufacturing  companies.  In  1880  the 
Pullman  Company  erected  the  most  ex- 


RAILWAY  PASSENGER.   TRAVEL. 


tensive  car  works  in  the  world  at  Pull- 
man, fourteen  miles  south  of  Chicago, 
and  besides  its  extensive  output  of  Pull- 
man cars  and  freight  equipment,  it  has 
built  for  railway  companies  large  num- 
bers of  passenger  coaches.  The  employes 


traveller,  and  the  amount  carried  seems 
to  increase  in  proportion  to  the  advance 
in  civilization.  The  original  allowance 
of  fourteen  pounds  is  found  to  be  in- 
creased to  four  hundred  when  ladies 
start  for  fashionable  summer  resorts. 


on  a  Vestibuled  Train. 


now  number  about  5,000,  and  an  idea  of 
the  capacity  and  resources  of  the  shops 
may  be  obtained  from  the  fact  that  one 
hundred  freight  cars,  of  the  kind  known 
as  flat  cars,  have  been  built  in  eight 
hours.  The  business  of  car  building 
has  therefore  given  rise  to  the  first 
model  manufacturing  town  in  America, 
and  it  is  an  industry  evidently  destined 
to  increase  as  rapidly  as  any  in  the  coun- 
try. 

The  transportation  of  baggage  has  al- 
ways been  a  most  important  item  to  the 


America  has  been  much  more  liberal 
than  other  countries  to  the  traveller  in 
this  particular,  as  in  all  others.  Here 
few  of  the  roads  charge  for  excess  of 
baggage  unless  the  amount  be  so  large 
that  patience  with  regard  to  it  ceases  to 
be  a  virtue. 

The  earlier  method,  of  allowing  each 
passenger  to  pick  out  his  baggage  at 
his  point  of  destination  and  carry  it  off, 
resulted  in  a  lack  of  accountability  which 
led  to  much  confusion,  frequent  losses, 
and  heavy  claims  upon  the  companies  in- 
consequence. Necessity,  as  usual,  gave 


RAILWAY  PASSENGER    TRAVEL. 


birth  to  invention,  and  the  difficulty 
was  at  last  solved  by  the  introduction  of 
the  system  known  as  "  checking."  A 
metal  disk  bearing  a  number  and  desig- 
nating on  its  face  the  destination  of  the 
baggage  was  attached  to  each  article 
and  a  duplicate  given  to  the  owner, 
which  answered  as  a  receipt,  and  upon 
the  presentation  and  surrender  of  which 
the  baggage  could  be  claimed.  Kail- 
ways  soon  united  in  arranging  for 
through  checks  which  when  attached  to 
baggage  would  insure  its  being  sent 
safely  to  distant  points  over  lines  com- 
posed of  many  connecting  roads.  The 
check  system  led  to  the  introduction  of 
another  marked  convenience  in  the  hand- 
ling of  baggage — the  baggage  express  or 
transfer  company.  One  of  its  agents 
will  now  check  trunks  at  the  passenger's 
own  house  and  haul  them  to  the  train. 
Another  agent  will  take  up  the  checks 
aboard  the  train 
i  as  it  is  nearing 

its     destination, 
and  see  that  the 
baggage  is  de- 
livered at  any 
given  address. 
The  cases  in 
which  pieces 
go  astray  are 


tion  the  amount  saved  in  the  reduced  force 
of  employes  engaged  in  assorting  and 
handling  the  baggage.  Its  workings  are 
so  perfect  and  its  conveniences  so  great 
that  an  American  cannot  easily  under- 
stand why  it  is  not  adopted  in  all  coun- 
tries ;  but  he  is  forced  to  recognize  the 
fact  that  it  seems  destined  to  be  confined 
to  his  own  land.  The  London  railway 
managers,  for  instance,  give  many  reasons 
for  turning  their  faces  against  its  adop- 
tion. They  say  that  there  are  few  losses 
arising  from  passengers  taking  baggage 
that  does  not  belong  to  them  ;  that  most 
of  the  passengers  take  a  cab  at  the  end 
of  their  railway  journey  to  reach  their 
homes,  and  it  costs  but  little  more  to 
carry  their  trunk  with  them  ;  that  in  this 
way  it  gets  home  as  soon  as  they,  while 
the  transfer  company,  or  baggage  ex- 
press, would  not  deliver  it  for  an  hour  or 
two  later  ;  that  the  cab  system  is  a  great 
convenience,  and  any  change  which 
would  diminish  its  patronage  would 
gradually  reduce  the  number  of  cabs, 
and  these  "gondolas  of  London"  would 
have  to  increase  their  charges  or  go  out 
of  business.  It  is  very  easy  to  find  a 
stick  when  one  wants  to  hit  a  dog,  and 
the  European  railway  officials  seem  never 
to  be  at  a  loss  for  reasons  in  rejecting 
the  check  system. 


View  of  Pullman,  Illinois. 


astonishingly  rare,  and  some  roads  found 
the  claims  for  lost  articles  reduced  by 
five  thousand  dollars  the  first  year  after 
adopting  the  check  system,  not  to  men- 


Coupon  tickets  covering  trips  over 
several  different  railways  have  saved  the 
traveller  all  the  annoyance  once  experi- 
enced in  purchasing  separate  tickets 


RAILWAY  PASSENGER    TRAVEL. 


from  the  several  companies  represent- 
ing the  roads  over  which  he  had  to 
pass.  Their  introduction  necessitated 
an  agreement  among  the  principal  rail- 
ways of  the  country  and  the  adoption  of 


that  this  might  be  a  very  neat  job  on  the 
part  of  an  Eastern  ticket  sharp,  but  it 
was  just  a  little  too  thin  to  fool  a  Pacific 
Coaster,  and  he  said,  "  Don't  you  think 
I've  got  sense  enough  to  know  that  if  I 


Railway  Station  at  York,  England,  bt 


an  extensive  system  of  accountability  for 
the  purpose  of  making  settlements  of 
the  amounts  represented  by  the  cou- 
pons. 

Like  every  other  novelty  the  coupon 
ticket  when  first  introduced  did  not  hit 
the  mark  when  aimed  at  the  under- 
standing of  certain  travellers.  A  United 
States  Senator  elect  had  come  on  by 
sea  from  the  Pacific  coast  who  had  never 
seen  a  railroad  till  he  reached  the  At- 
lantic seaboard.  With  a  curiosity  to 
test  the  workings  of  the  new  means  of 
transportation,  of  which  he  had  heard  so 
much,  he  bought  a  coupon  ticket  and 
set  out  for  a  railway  journey.  He  en- 
tered a  car,  took  a  seat  next  to  the  door, 
and  was  just  beginning  to  get  the  "hang 
of  the  schoolhouse  "  when  the  conductor, 
who  was  then  not  uniformed,  came  in, 
cried  "  Tickets ! "  and  reached  out  his 
hand  toward  the  Senator.  "What  do 
you  want  of  me  ?  "  said  the  latter.  "  I 
want  your  ticket,"  answered  the  con- 
ductor. Now  it  occurred  to  the  Senator 


parted  with  my  ticket  right  at  the  start 
I  wouldn't  have  anything  to  show  for 
my  money  during  the  rest  of  the  way  ? 
No,  sir,  I'm  going  to  hold  on  to  this  till 
I  get  to  the  end  of  the  trip." 

"  Oh  !  "  said  the  conductor,  whose  im- 
patience was  now  rising  to  fever  heat, 
"I  don't  want  to  take  up  your  ticket,  I 
only  want  to  look  at  it." 

The  Senator  thought,  after  some  reflec- 
tion, that  he  would  risk  letting  the  man 
have  a  peep  at  it  anyhow,  and  held  it  up 
before  him,  keeping  it,  however,  at  a  safe 
distance.  The  conductor,  with  the  cus- 
tomary abruptness,  jerked  it  out  of  his 
hand,  tore  off  the  first  coupon,  and  was 
about  to  return  the  ticket,  when  the  Pa- 
cific Coaster  sprang  up,  threw  himself 
upon  his  muscle,  and  delivered  a  well- 
directed  blow  of  his  fist  upon  the  con- 
ductor's right  eye,  which  landed  him 
sprawling  on  one  of  the  opposite  seats. 
The  other  passengers  were  at  once  on 
their  feet,  and  rushed  up  to  know  the 
cause  of  the  disturbance.  The  Senator, 


RAILWAY  PASSENGER   TRAVEL. 


still  standing  with  his  arms  in  a  pugna- 
cious attitude,  said  : 

"  Maybe  I've  never  ridden  on  a  rail- 
road before,  but  I'm  not  going  to  let  any 
sharper  get  away  with  me  like  that." 

"  What's  he  done  ?  "  cried  the  passen- 
gers. 

"Why,  "said  the  Senator,  "I  paid  sev- 
enteen dollars  and  a  half  for  a  ticket  to 
take  me  through  to  Cincinnati,  and  be- 
fore we're  five  miles  out  that  fellow  slips 
up  and  says  he  wants  to  see  it,  and  when 
I  get  it  out,  he  grabs  hold  of  it  and 
goes  to  tearing  it  up  right  before  my 
eyes."  Ample  explanations  were  soon 
made,  and  the  new  passenger  was  duly 
initiated  into  the  mysteries  of  the  cou- 
pon system. 

The  uniforming  of  railway  employes 
was  a  movement  of  no  little  importance. 
It  designated  the  various  positions  held 


them  with  a  greater  sense  of  responsi- 
bility and  aided  much  in  effecting  a 
more  courteous  demeanor  to  passengers. 

Many  conveniences  have  been  intro- 
duced which  greatly  assist  the  passenger 
when  travelling  upon  unfamiliar  roads. 
Conspicuous  clock  faces  stand  in  the 
stations  with  their  hands  set  to  the  hour 
at  which  the  next  train  is  to  start,  sign 
boards  are  displayed  with  horizontal 
slats  on  which  the  stations  are  named  at 
which  departing  way-trains  stop,  and 
employes  are  stationed  to  call  out  nec- 
essary information  and  direct  passen- 
gers to  the  proper  entrances,  exits,  and 
trains.  A  "  bureau  of  information  "  is 
now  to  be  seen  in  large  passenger  sta- 
tions, in  which  an  official  sits  and  with 
a  Job-like  patience  repeats  to  the  curi- 
ously inclined  passengers  the  whole 


London  Underground   Railway   Station. 


by  them,  added  much  to  the  neatness  of 
their  appearance,  enabled  passengers  to 
recognize  them  at  a  glance,  and  made 
them  so  conspicuous  that  it  impressed 


railway  catechism,  and  sucessfully  an- 
swers conundrums  that  would  stump  an 
Oriental  pundit. 

The  energetic  passenger-agent  spares 


RAILWAY  PASSENGER   TRAVEL. 


Outside  the  Grand  Central  Station,  New  York. 


no  pains  to  thrust  information  directly 
under  the  nose  of  the  public.  He  uses 
every  means  known  to  Yankee  ingenuity 
to  advertise  his  regular  trains  and  his 
excursion  business,  including  large 
newspaper  head-lines,  corner  posters, 
curb-stone  dodgers,  and  placards  on 
the  breast  and  back  of  the  itinerant  hu- 
man sandwich  who  perambulates  the 
streets. 


Railway  accidents  have  always  been  a 
great  source  of  anxiety  to  the  managers, 
and  the  shocks  received  by  the  public 
when  great  loss  of  life  occurs  from  such 
causes  deepens  the  interest  which  the 
general  community  feels  in  the  means 
taken  to  avoid  these  distressing  occur- 
rences. 

American  railway  officials  have  made 
encouraging  progress  in  reducing  the 


RAILWAY  PASSENGER    TRAVEL. 


number  and  the  severity  of  accidents, 
and  while  the  record  is  not  so  good  on 
many  of  our  cheaply  constructed  roads, 
our  first-class  roads  now  show  by  their 
statistics  that  they  compare  favorably 
in  this  respect  with  the  European  com- 
panies. 

The  statistics  regarding  accidents  are 
necessarily  unreliable,  as  railway  com- 
panies are  not  eager  to  publish  their  ca- 
lamities from  the  house-tops,  and  only  in 
those  States  in  which  prompt  reports  are 
required  to  be  made  by  law  are  the  figures 


given  at  all  accurate.  Even  in  these  in- 
stances the  yearly  reports  lead  to  wrong 
conclusions,  for  the  State  railroad  com- 
missioners become  more  exacting  each 
year  as  to  the  thoroughness  of  the  re- 
ports called  for,  and  the  results  some- 
times show  an  increase  compared  with 
previous  years,  whereas  there  may  have 
been  an  actual  decrease. 

In  1880,  the  last  census  year,  an  effort 
was  made  to  collect  statistics  of  this  kind 
covering  all  the  railways  in  the  United 
States,  with  the  following  result : 


To  whom  happened. 

Through  causes 
beyond  their  control. 

Through  their  own 
carelessness. 

Aggregate. 

Total 
accidents. 

Killed. 

Injured. 

Killed. 

Injured. 

Killed. 

Injured. 

Passengers  

61 

261 
43 

331 
1,004 
103 

82 
663 
1,42'J 

213 
2,613 
1,348 

143 
924 
1,472 
3 

544 
3.617 
1.451 
62 

687 
4.541 
2,923 
65 

All  others  .  .             

Unspecified  

Total  

366 

1,438 

2,174 

4,174 

2,641 

5,674 

8,215 

Mulhall,  in  his  Dictionary  of  Statistics, 
an  English  work,  uses  substantially  these 
same  figures  and  makes  the  following 
comparison  between  European  and 
American  railways  : 

Accidents  to  Passengers,  Employes  and  Others. 


i 

•i  i  4 

Killed. 

g 

Total. 

£      be 

§ 

£    g    C 

* 

d<~  $ 

United  States  

2,349 

5.866 

8,215 

41.1 

United  Kingdom  

1,135 

3,959 

6,094 

81 

Europe  

3.213 

10,859 

14,1172 

10.8 

That  the  figures  given  above  are  much 
too  high  as  regards  the  United  States, 
there  can  be  no  doubt.  For  the  fiscal 


year  1880-81  the  data  compiled  by  the 
railroad  commissioners  of  Massachusetts 
and  published  in  their  reports  give  as 
the  total  number  of  persons  killed  and 
injured  in  the  United  States  2,126,  as 
against  8,215  upon  which  the  compari- 
sons in  the  above  table  are  based.  If 
we  substitute  in  this  table  the  former 
number  for  the  latter  it  would  reduce 
the  number  of  injured  per  million  pas- 
sengers in  the  United  States  to  10.6, 
about  the  same  as  on  the  European  rail- 
ways. 

Edward  Bates  Dorsey  gives  the  fol- 
lowing interesting  table  of  comparisons 
in  his  valuable  work  English  and  Amer- 
ican Railroads  Compared: 


Pussengers  Killed  and  Injured  from  causes  beyond  tlieir  own  control  on  all  the  Railroads  of  the 
United  Kingdom  and  those  of  the  States  of  New  York  and  Massachusetts  in  1884. 


Total  length 
of  line 
operated. 

Total  mileage. 

Killed. 

Injured. 

Train. 

Passengers. 

United  Kingdom  

18,864 
7,298 
2,852 

272,803,220 
85.918,677 
32,304,333 

6.042.659.990 
1.729.653.620 
1,007,136,376 

31 
10 
2 

5.15 
5  78 
2  00 

864 
124 
42 

143 
70 
42 

New  York  

In    1,000  000.000    passengers  ' 
transported  1  mile.                  , 

United  Kingdom  

New  York  

Massachusetts 

The  average  number  of  miles  ( 
a  passeng'-r  can  travel  with-  < 
out  being  killed.                     ( 

The  avera  ?e  number  of  miles  ( 
a  passenger  can  travel  with-  -< 
out  being  injured. 

Miles. 

194.892,255 
172,965.362 
503,568,188 

6,992.662 
13.940  7R4 

New  York    

United  Kingdom  

New  York                                                                                                              

Massachusetts  .  .                                                                                                           2.'1955.a30 

RAILWAY  PASSENGER    TRAVEL. 


From  this  it  will  be  seen  that  in  the 
United  Kingdom  the  average  distance  a 
passenger  may  travel  before  being  killed 
is  about  equal  to  twice  the  distance  of 
the  Earth  from  the  Sun.  In  New  York 
he  may  travel  a  distance  greater  than 
that  of  Mars  from  the  Sun  ;  and  in  Mas- 
sachusetts he  can  comfort  himself  with 
the  thought  that  he  may  travel  twenty- 
seven  millions  of  miles  further  than  the 
distance  from  Jupiter  to  the  Sun  be- 
fore suffering  death  on  the  rail. 

The    most   encouraging    feature   of 
these  statistics  is  the  fact  that  the  num- 
ber of  railway  acci- 
dents per  mile  in 
the  United 
States  has 

sho  wn    a  ,  ^ 

marked  de-  ~  -  -  „  _  . , 

crease  each 

year.  Tak-  §^ 

ing  the  fig- 


Boston   Passenger  Station,  Providence   Division,  Old   Colony  Railroad. 


In  the  year  1840  the  number  of  miles 
of  railway  per  100,000  inhabitants  in  the 
different  countries  named  was  as  fol- 
lows :  United  States,  20  ;  United  King- 
dom, 3  ;  Europe,  1 ;  in  the  year  1882, 
United  States,  210;  United 
Kingdom,  52  ;  Europe,  34. 

In  the  year  1886,  the  last 
year  in  which   full  reports 
are   published,   the    total 
number    of    miles   in  the 
United   States  was  137,- 
986,  the  number  of  pas- 
sengers carried,  382,284,- 
972,   the   number    car- 
ried one   mile,  9,659,- 
698,294,   the    average 
distance  travelled  per 
passenger,    25. 27 
miles. 

In  Europe  the 
first  -  class  travel 
exceedingly 
small  and  the 
t  h  i  r  d-class 
constit  u  t  e  s 
the  largest 
portion  o  f 
the  passen- 
ger business, 
while  in  Am- 
erica almost 
the  whole  of 
the  travel  is 
first-class,  as 
will  be  seen 
from  the  fol- 
lowing table : 


ures  adopted  by  the  Massachusetts 
commissions,  the  number  of  persons 
injured  in  the  year  1880-81  was  2,126, 
and  in  1886-87  2,483,  while  in  the 
same  time  the  number  of  miles  in 
operation  has  increased  from  93,349  to 
137,986. 

The  amounts  paid  annually  by  rail- 
ways in  satisfaction  of  claims  for  dam- 
ages to  passengers  are  serious  items  of 
expenditure,  and  in  the  United  States 
have  reached  in  some  years  nearly  two 
millions  of  dollars.  About  half  of  the 
States  limit  the  amount  of  damages  in 
case  of  death  to  $5,000,  the  States  of 
Virginia,  Ohio,  and  Kansas  to  $10,000, 
and  the  remainder  have  no  statutory 
limit. 


First 
class. 

Second 
class. 

Third 
class. 

United  Kingdom  

6 

10 

84 

France  

8 

32 

60 

Germany  

1 

13 

86 

United  States  

99 

>£  of  1 

X  of  1 

Percentage    of   passengers 
carried. 


The  third-class  travel  in  this  country 
is  better  known  as  immigrant  travel. 
The  percentages  given  in  the  above  ta- 
ble for  the  United  States  are  based  up- 
on an  average  of  the  numbers  of  passen- 
gers of  each  class  carried  on  the  principal 
through  lines.  If  all  the  roads  were  in- 
cluded, the  percentages  of  the  second 
and  third  class  travel  would  be  still  less. 

That  which  is  of  more  material  inter- 


A  LONDON  LIFE. 


est  to  passengers  than  anything  else  is 
the  rate  of  fare  charged. 

The  following  table  gives  a  compari- 
son between  the  rates  per  mile  in  the 
leading  countries  of  the  world  : 


First 
class. 

Second 

class. 

Third 
class. 

United  Kingdom    

Cents. 
4.42 

Cents. 
3.20 

Cents. 
1.94 

France  

3.86 

2.88 

2.1)8 

Germany  

3.10 

2.32 

1.54 

United  States.  .  . 

2.18 

The  rate  named  as  the  first-class  fare 
for  the  railways  in  the  United  States  is 
strictly  speaking  the  average  earnings 
per  passenger  per  mile,  and  includes 
all  classes  ;  but  as  the  first-class  passeng- 
ers constitute  about  ninety-nine  per 
centum  of  the  travel  the  amount  does 
not  differ  materially  from  the  actual  first- 
class  fare.  In  the  State  of  New  York 
the  first-class  fare  does  not  exceed  two 
cents,  which  is  about  equal  to  the  third- 
class  fare  in  Europe,  and  heat,  good  ven- 
tilation, ice  water,  toilet  arrangements, 
and  free  carriage  of  a  liberal  amount  of 
baggage  are  supplied,  while  in  Europe 
few  of  these  comforts  are  furnished. 


On  the  elevated  railroads  of  New 
York  a  passenger  can  ride  in  a  first- 
class  car  eleven  miles  for  5  cents,  or 
about  one-half  cent  a  mile,  and  on  sur- 
face roads  the  commutation  rates  given 
to  suburban  passengers  are  in  some  cases 
still  less. 

The  berth  fares  in  sleeping-cars  in 
Europe  largely  exceed  those  in  America, 
as  will  be  seen  from  the  following  com- 
parisons, stated  in  dollars  : 


Route. 

Distance  in 
miles. 

Berth  fare. 

Paris  to  Rome  

901 

$12.75 

New  York  to  Chicago  

912 

5.00 

Paris  to  Marseilles  

536 

11.08 

New  York  to  Buffalo  

440 

2.00 

1,373 

22  25 

Boston  to  St.  Louis  

1,330 

650 

While  it  would  seem  that  the  luxuries 
of  railway  travel  in  America  have  reached 
a  maximum,  and  the  charges  a  minimum, 
yet  in  this  progressive  age  it  is  very 
probable  that  in  the  not  far  distant  fu- 
ture we  shall  witness  improvements  over 
the  present  methods  which  will  astonish 
us  as  much  as  the  present  methods  sur- 
prise us  when  we  compare  them  with 
those  of  the  past. 


MORRIS  AND  ESSEX  RAIL  ROAD. 


This  road  was  Chartered  January  29lh  1835,  and  the 
Company  commenced  running  their  cars  by  horse  power, 
from  Newark  to  Orange  November  19lh  1836,  from 
Newark  to  Madison  by  steam  power  on  Monday  the  second 
of  October,  1837  ;  and  from  Newark  to  Morristown,  on 
the  first  day  of  January,  1838  ;  March  1st,  1842,  an  act 
was  passed  by  the  Legislature  for  the  relief  of  this  road, 
and  on  Monday  18th  April,  1842,  the  road  was  sold — and 
the  purchasers  began  to  lay  the  Iron  Raila  down  the  mid- 
dle of  September}  and  finished  the  middle  of  January  1843, 
being  only  18  weeks — and  now  run  through  in  one  hour 
thirty  minutes,  as  follows,  viz : 

SUMMER  ARRANGEMENTS. 

NEW-YORK,  MORRISTOWN  AND  SCHOOLEY'S 
MOUNTAIN. 


LEAVE  MoRRrsTOWN, 

6£  o'clock,  A.  M. 

2  o'clock,  P.  M. 


LBA.VE  New  YORK. 
8  o'clock,  A.  M. 
4  o'clock,  P.  M. 


Leave  Newark  for  Morristown  at  9  A.  M.,  and  5  P.  M. 

Passengers  by  the  Morning  train  to  Morristown  will 
arrive  there  at  10J  o'clock,  where  stages  will  be  in  rea- 
diness to  convey  them  to  Schooley's  Mountain.Washington, 
Belvidere  and  Easton  ;  also  to  Stanhope,  Sparta,  Newton, 
Milford  andOvvego. 

Passengers  from  Morristown,  will  arrive  in  Newark  in 
time'.to  take  the  trains  for  Philadelphia. 

William  Wright,  PRKSIDHNT, 

Beach  Vanderpool,  Treasurer. 

J.  C.  Garth waite,  Secretary. 

Directors. — Lewis  Condict,  Stephen  Vail.  Jonathan 
Parkhurst,  Daniel  Babbit,  Stephen  D.  Day,  Joel  W,  Con- 
dict, Beach  Vanderpool,  William  Wright. 

Ira  Dodd,  Superintendent. 


RAILROAD 

Passenger  Trains  run  daily,  (Sundays 
excepted,)  as  follows  : 


LEAVE  NEW  HAVEN. 

Accommodation  Train,  at  8  A.  M.  for  Springfield,  Hartford,  Middletown  Junction,  and  Way 
Stations. 

Express  Train,  at  11  10  A.  M.  for  Meriden,  Middletown  Junction,  Hartford  and  Springfield. 

Accommodation  Train,  at  2  p.  M.  for  Springfield,  Hartford,  Middletown  Junction,  and  Way 
Stations. 

Kxpress  Train,  at  6  05  p.  M.  for  WtUlingford,  Meriden,  Middletown  Junction,  Hartford, 
and  Springfield. 

LEAVE  HARTFORD.(NORTH.) 

Accommodation  Train,  at  6  45  A.  M.  for  Springfield  and  Way  Stations. 
Accommodation  Train,  at  10  A.  M.  for  Springfield  and  way  Stations. 
Express  Train,  12  SO  p.  M.  for  Springfield,  (without  stopping.) 
Accommodation  Train,  at  3  45  p.  M.  for  Springfield  and  Way  Stations. 
Express  Train,  at  7  30  p.  M.  for  Windsor  Locks,  Thompsonville  and  Springfield. 

(SOUTH.) 

Accommodation  Train,  at  8  10  A.  M.  for  New  Haven,  Middletown  Junction  and  Way 
Stations. 

Express  Train,  at  11  50  A.  M.  for  Middletown  Junction,  Meriden  and  New  Haven. 

Accommodation  Train,  at  2  45  p.  11.  for  New  Haven,  Middletown  Junction,  and  Way  Sta- 
tions. 

Express  Train,  at  6  45  p.  M.  for  Middletown  Junction.  Meriden  and  New  Haven. 

LEAVE  SPRINGFIELD. 

Accommodation  Train,  at  7  A.  M.  for  New  Haven,  Hartford,  Middletown  Junction  and 
Way  Stations. 

Express  Train,  at  11  05A.M.  for  Hartford,  Middletown  Junction,  Meriden  and  New  Haven. 

Accommodation  Train,  at  1  30  p.  M.  for  New  Haven,  Hartford,  Middletown  Junction  and 
Way  Stations. 

Express  Train,  at  5  45  p.  M.  fbr  Hartford,  Middletown  Junction,  Meriden  and  New  Haven. 

Accommodation  Train,  at  8  20  p.  M.  for  Hartford  and  Way  Stations. 

The  6  45  A.  M  Train  from  Hartford,  connects  with  the  Morning  Traini  of  the  Western 
Railroad  for  Albany  and  Boston. 

The  Train  leaving  New  Haven  at  8  A.  M.  and  Hartford  at  10  A.  M.  connects  at  Springfield 
with  the  Western  Railroad  Train  for  Albany. 

The  Trains  of  the  Connecticut  Rfver  Railroad  leave  Springfield  at  8  A.  M.  and  2  p.  M.  for 
Northampton,  Greenfield,  Brattleboro',  Keene,  Bellows  Falls  and  Burlington. 

The  8  and  11  10  A.  M.  Trains  from  New  Haven,  and  the  7  A.  x.  and  1  30  P.  M.  Trains  from 
Springfield  arrive  at  Hartford  in  time  for  the  Trains  of  the  Hartford,  Providence  and  Fishkill 
Railroad. 

Trains  for  New-York  leave  New  Haven  on  the  arrival  of  each  regular  Train  from  Spring- 
field and  Hartford. 

NEW- YORK  AND  BOSTON. 

Express  Trains  from  New- York  to  Boston,  leave  New  Haven  at  11  10  A.  M.,  6  05  t  M.,  and 
Hartford  at  12  30  p.  M.  and  7  30  p.  M. 

Express  Trains  from  Boston  to  New- York,  leave  Springfield  at  11  05  A.  M.,  5  45  p.  M.,  and 
Hartford  at  11  50  A.  M.  and  6  45  p.  M. 

MIDDLETOWN  RAILROAD. 

Trains  leave  Middletown  at  8  A.  M.,  11  30  A.  M.,  2  20  p.  M.,  and  6  15  p.  M. 

RETURNING. 

Leave  Berlin  at  9  15  A.  M.,  12  10  P.  M.,  3   10  P.  M.  and  7  p.  M. 

Connecting  each  way  with  the  Trains  of  the  Hartford  and  New  Haven  Railroad  at  Berlin. 


THE  UNION  PACIFIC  R  R. 


Is  now  completed  and  running  Daily  Passenger  Trains,  forming 
in  connection  with  the  Central  Pacific  Railroad,  an 

K.OTJTE 


TO 


California  and  the  Pacific  Coast, 

making  the  unexampled  time  of  1800  miles  in 

FOUR  DAYS  FROM  OMAHA  TO  SACRAMENTO. 

Direct  connections  made 


dm  Q  Via  ^^  Chicago  &  North-  Western,  Chicago,  Rock 
Ullld/llct  Is]and  &  Pacific  and  Saint  Joseph  &  Council 

Bluffs  Railroads  and  Missouri  River  line  of  Packets,  to  and  from 

all  Principal  Eastern  and  Southern  Cities. 

A  +  PViaTranna  with   Stages    for    Denver,   Central   City, 
At  UllGy  Cimu  Santa  Fe?  and  all  point8  in  Colorado  and 

New  Mexico. 

with  stages  for  the   Great   Sweetwater   Mining 
District. 

A  i.  T^naovoi"  staSes  leave  on  arrival  of  Union  Pacific  trains 
At  -UcbGl  C  t  for  galt  Lake  City  and  Southern  Utah. 

A  4-  P/viMTirm  for   Helena,  Virginia  City  and  all  points  in 
At  IrUrmUG  Montana. 

A  f  "Pvnm  nnf  AW  witl1  Central  Pacific  Railroad  for  White 

At  AlUIllUlltUIjr  pine  Silver  Mines,  Sacramento,  San 

Francisco  and  all  principal  cities  in  California,  Nevada  and  Idaho. 

First  class  Hotels  and  Eating  Houses  at  convenient  points  on 

the  line. 

Pullman's  Palace  and  Sleeping  Cars  accompany 
all  trains. 

For  Through  Rates  on  Freight  to  MONTANA,  SWEET- 
WATER  MINES  and  other  points,  apply  to  H.  BRO  WNSON, 
General  Freight  Agent,  Omaha. 

Purchase  Tickets  via  Omaha  and  Platte  Valley  Route. 

W.  SNYDER,  GEN.  SUPT. 
T.  BUDD,  GEN.  TICKET  AGENT. 


THE 


IS  NOW  BY  THE 

111 


Fare  $3.00  Less  than  by  any  other  Route. 


1877 


1877 


FOUR  EXPRESS  TRAINS  LEAVE  DETROIT  DAILY  WITH  PASSENGERS  FOR 

Pontiao,  Flint,  Saginaw,  Bay  City,  Owosso,  St.  Johns, 

GRAND  RAPIDS,  GRAND  HAVEN,  MUSEEGON,  WHITEHALL, 

Milwaukee,  Chicago,  St.  Paul,  St.   Anthony, 


And  all  Points  on  the    Mississippi    River. 


First- Class    Staunch    Steamships, 

SLEEPING-  CABS  ON  ALL  NIGHT  TRAINS. 


Close  Connection  made  at   Detroit  with  the 


& 


For  Buffalo,  Rochester,  Boston,  New   York,   Philadelphia,    Toronto,   and   with  Grand   Trunk 
Railway  for  Montreal,  Quebec,  and  with  Cleveland  and  Lake  Superior  Line  of  Steamers. 

For  Emigrants,  this  Line  offers  Cheap  &  Comfortable  Transit, 

For  particulars,  see  Company's  Time  table,  to  be  had  at  any  of  the  Stations  on  application. 

S.  R.  CALLAWAY,  Ass't  Supt. 
D.  &  M.  B.  R.  Office,  Detroit,  1877. 


Fort  ffayM,  Jackson  and  Sagim  R,  L 


Indianapolis, 

Cincinnati, 

Louisville, 

XTasnville, 

Cnattanooga, 

St.  Louis, 

Kansas  City. 

kll 


Direct   connection    is   made   at   Auburn    Junction   with    the    BALTIMORE    &    OHIO 

Railroad,  making  a 

SHORT  AND  DIRECT  ROUTE  TO 

Baltimore,  Washington,  Philadelphia,  New  York, 

JOINTS     EAST, 


2  Express  Trains  Each  Way  Daily 


EXCEPT  SUNDAYS. 


This  Line  is  equipped  with  Air  Brakes  and  Miller's  Platforms,  and 
all  improvements  for  Comfort  and  Safety. 


BE  SURE  TO  ASK  FOR  TICKETS  BY  THE 

Ft.  "Wayne,  Jackson  and  Saginaw, 

S.  K.  HOOPER,  P.  B.  LOOMIS, 

General  Ticket  Agent.  Pres't  and  Gen'l  Manager. 


THE 


TO  THE  GREAT 


is 


MILWAUKEE  &  ST.  PAUL 


Milwaukee  to  St.  Paul  &  Minneapolis  40  8  Miles 
Milwaukee  to  LaCrosse,        -      -        200 
Milwaukee  to  Portage  City,   -      -      96 
Milton  to  Monroe,      -  43 

Watertown  to  Sun  Prairie,       -      -      26 
Horicon  to  Berlin  and  Omro,      -         52     " 


Total, 


825 


COMPRISING  ALL  PRINCIPAL  RAILWAYS  IN 

"Wisconsin,  Minnesota 

AND  NORTHERN  IOWA. 


PACIFIC  RAILROAD 


The  most  Direct  and  Reliable  Route  from  St.  Louis  through  to 

Kansas  City,  Leavenworth  &  Atchison, 

WITHOUT  CHANGE  OF  CARS. 

Close  connections  at  Kansas  City  with  MISSOURI  VALLEY,  MISSOURI 

RIVER,  FT.    SCOTT  &  GULF  AND  KANSAS  PACIFIC  R'YS, 

FOR    WESTON,  ST.  JOSEPH,  JUNCTION   CITY,  FORT 

SCOTT,  LAWRENCE,  TOPEKA,  SHERIDAN,  DENVER,, 

FORT  UNION,  SANTA  FE,  AND 

.A.I^L,  DPOIIVTS  TTJEST. 

At  SEDALIA,  WARRENSBURG  and   PLEASANT  HILL,  with  Stage 
Lines  for  Warsaw,  Quincy,  Bolivar,  Springfield,  Clinton,  Osceola,  Lamar, 
Carthage,  Granby,  Neosho,  Baxter  Springs,  Fort  Gibson,  Fort  Smith,  Van, 
Buren,  Fayetteville  and  Bentonville. 

Palace  Sleeping  Cars  on  all  Night  Trains. 

Checked:  Through  Free  I 


THROUGH  TICKETS  for  sale  at  all  the  Principal  Railroad  Offices  in  the 
United  States  and  Canadas.  BE  SURE  AND  GET  YOUR  TICKETS 
0  VER  THE  PACIFIC  R.  R.  OF  M1SSO  URL 

W.  B.  HALE,  THOS.  McKISSOCK, 

Gen.  Pass,  and  Ticket  Agt.  General  Superintendent, 


LONG  AGO  BOOKS 

from 

.ZLmericeuna,  -Re-srie 

The  Country  Kitchen,  1850 

Automobiles  of  1904 

American  Advertising,  1800-1900 

Mail  Order  Fashion,  1880-1900 

Early  American  School  Books 
(Choice  pages  from) 

Uncle  Frank's  Animal  Stories 

1890's  Album 

Old  Fashioned  Picture  Book 
Mother  Goose  of  Boston 

The  Volunteer  Fire  Dep't 
of  Old  New  York 

The  ABC  Coloring  Book 

Railway  Passenger  Travel,  1825-1880 

Locomotive  Advertising  in  America,  1850-1900 

Children's  Stories  of  the  1850's 

Fun  and  Games  of  Long  Ago 

Rascals  and  Rogues  of  Long  Ago 


10   SOCHA    LANE   -    SCOTIA.    NEW   YORK    1 23O2 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBAN* 


